MAT stands for the Management Aptitude Test, an exam popular among management aspirants and professionals. It is a standardized test, conducted by AIMA to aid various B-Schools with screening of candidates for admission to their MBA programs.

It is one of the most widely taken tests by those looking to take up management careers, and it serves as a ticket to over 600 B-schools in India. Candidates need to have a strategic MBA preparation plan, in order to be able to crack the MAT Exam. Candidates can choose to opt for a Paper Based Test or a Computer Based Test, which are conducted in different time slots.

With 28th April being the last date of application, students have a fair amount of time to prepare for their MAT 2017 exam date that has been announced as 7th of May, 2017 for the pen and paper based exam and the 13th of May, 2017 for the computer based test.

MAT 2017 Exam Pattern

As the MAT 2017 exam date nears, candidates planning to appear for the exam must be aware of the exam pattern, before anything else. MAT 2017 will be a 2 and a half hour exam, containing 200 multiple choice type of questions, divided into five sections.

Each section comprises of 40 questions, with the sections being Language Comprehension, Mathematical Skills, Data Analysis & Sufficiency, Intelligence & Critical Reasoning, Indian & Global Environment, respectively. 1 mark will be awarded for each correct response, while 0.25 marks will be deducted for every wrong response, per question.

Syllabus Basics

Following are the important areas in each section. These vital areas generally hold the maximum number of questions in the MAT Exam. As the MAT 2017 exam date is less than 5 weeks away, students preparing for the test must focus on these topics and revise them thoroughly for obtaining maximum marks in each section.

Preparation Strategy

The MAT 2017 paper can be split into three parts:

Concept driven: Selected areas of language comprehension and mathematical skills are the major concept driven areas, where questions are critically dependent on the candidate’s clarity of concepts, with respect to core fundamentals.

Practice intensive: Some other areas in English language, proficiency intelligence & critical reasoning, and data analysis & sufficiency are practice intensive, where rigorous practice of similar questions and topics can play a key role.

Environment sensitive: Indian & global environment is one environment sensitive area where awareness, with respect to what’s going around the world and current affairs is the absolutely need.

The number of colleges participating in AIMA MAT and accepting MAT scores varies for different exams. However, AIMA has, for this year, published a list of 313 participating colleges for MAT 2017 exam dated on 7th May, 2017. In addition to the 313 colleges in AIMA’s list that offer AICTE recognized PGDM programs, there are around 500 other MBA colleges in various states, where admission to MMS/MBA will be available through the MAT 2017 exam scores. The better the college, the higher will be the MAT score cut-off acceptance. Therefore, to be able to take admission to a good MBA college, students must prepare strategically and especially concentrate on their speed.